Valve joins the Linux Foundation as it prepares its Linux-powered Steam OS and Steam Machines

Valve, creator of the Steam gaming platform and a video game studio and publisher in its own right, is the latest company to join the Linux Foundation – a nonprofit organization tasked with nurturing and advocating the open-source operating system.

The move isn’t much of a surprise, given that Valve adopted Linux for its recently unveiled Steam OS, an operating system that will be used for a new range of third-party video game consoles called ‘Steam Machines‘ expected from mid-2014. Valve co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell described the operating system and open source movement as “the future of gaming” at LinuxCon a couple of months ago, following the release of an official Linux client for the Steam platform in February.

Likewise, Newell described Windows 8 as “a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space” in July 2012. Although the majority of Steam players are on Windows-based PCs, it’s clear that the company would like to see more players adopting Linux instead.

“Joining the Linux Foundation is one of many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming,” Mike Sartain, a key member of the Linux team at Valve said. “Through these efforts we hope to contribute tools for developers building new experiences on Linux, compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux, and ultimately deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users.”